BuzzFeed Launches an Online Style Guide for the Web

If you’ve ever written for the Web—even just for your own website—you probably know that many style guides are still aimed at print. I used to look to the online style guide for the Web by Yahoo (no “!”). Ironically, it’s now only available as a p‑book.

Today I stumbled on a new online style guide for the Web posted by BuzzFeed. Why not? After all, “BuzzFeed claims a global audience of 100 million and is ranked by Alexa.com as the 45th most popular site in the United States” (source: Copyediting). Perhaps their style is worth taking a gander at, if just for curiosity’s sake.

What I miss most about the online Yahoo Style Guide is their word list, updated with all the new terms that haven’t yet graced the pages of a dictionary. I find myself wondering if we really need quotations around Facebook likes? Should you cap tweet? Is onesie really a word? Does the exclamation point come before or after the question mark in an interrobang? Buzzfeed’s style guide has the answers.

For the record, Webster’s online dictionary has a New Words & Slang section for words that haven’t made the grade—yet. But since it’s part of their open dictionary (meaning anyone can add words and definitions), it requires salt. A lot of salt.

BuzzFeed’s style guide is just that, a guide. The choice is still up to you. Nonetheless, I always find it reassuring to know how others in the biz are handling new vocab. Don’t you?